PASS Premier Tour | Charlotte

The anticipation leading up to Monday was almost like torture.  When I first got the email about the PASS Premier tour and saw that David Jay, Promise Tangeman, and Zach & Jody Gray would be coming through the Carolinas, I was so excited.  The torture part came as I waited for their tour bus to travel from Seattle, through California, across the southwest, through Texas, to Atlanta, DOWN to Florida and finally up to Charlotte!  And then hearing what everyone had to say as they came and went while knowing I still had xyz days left!  The countdown was on from day one.

I went to the Free to be Me Tour in Atlanta last year so I knew DJ and Promise would be wonderful.  This past April, I spent two days in Zach & Jody's home in Nashville for their In-Camera workshops.  So, going on Monday night was like going to see old friends!  And of course the most fun part was that Ben was able to go with me.  He's so much more business minded than I am (although I'm getting better...) and two heads are always better than one!  And now that he's shot a wedding with me (and has said he'll do it again!), he had an even better understanding of where some of the ideas and thoughts were coming from as each of these guys spoke.

David started everything out by introducing everyone and thanking us for coming.  Shoot, I think we were all thankful they came to us!  They've been on a tour bus for four weeks... we need to be thanking them! (see a video of their home on wheels on Zach & Jody's blog)

Promise was fabulous.  She is an artist/graphic designer and has designed websites for all kinds of people including Jasmine Star (love! her site).  Promise walked us through her process for helping people define their style and solidify their brand.

They had a red carpet set out to take pictures on... photo booth style.  So fun.

And this is what happens after spending four weeks on a bus with someone.  Don't worry, Andrew didn't hurt Zach too badly :-)

Love Zach & Jody.  Love that they remembered me when they saw me.  Love that Ben got to meet them.
Love that we got our picture with them.  Love that Zach is making that face on purpose...

Clearly no one told Ben and me that this was a "don't be serious at all" kind of picture :-)

Guess we'll have to work on that!

I really think I could listen to Zach & Jody talk forever.  They're so real and genuine about not only where they've come from but how their business has developed and how others have helped them grow.  And they willingly share all of that information!  That's what's so amazing about this business... Iron really does sharpen iron and they just want to help other photographers get off their feet and grow their own businesses.  I love coming to these things... not to network and get my name out there but to meet others who are pursuing what they're passionate about so that we can help each other along the way!

David Jay wrapped things up talking about PASS and how it's going to really change the way we as photographers do business with our clients in terms of digital images.  I personally can't wait to use it with my clients.  Just trust me for now... you're going to love it!